Most Charismatic #14: Walt Whitman

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

Walt Whitman created a persona and his poems were performative (he famously titled one of them “Song of Myself”) to the extent that they were more personal, more about himself– drawing attention to himself– than those of any poet or writer before him. A forerunner of, and inspiration for, the Beats, Whitman was a famous and public figure, whether writing eulogies for Presidents, being one of the first (supposedly) to read a poem for a phonograph recording, and having a public funeral attended by thousands of mourners. The first American literary rock star? Possibly so.

(Photo of Walt Whitman’s funeral procession.)

NEXT: Charismatic Writer #13
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Most Charismatic #15: Norman Mailer

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITERS TOURNAMENT

NO WRITER tried harder to be charismatic. No author worked harder at being a celebrity– from running for mayor of New York City to directing and starring in low-budget movies to trying to levitate the Pentagon to writing a book about Marilyn Monroe to appearing on television talk shows to stabbing his wife, Norman Mailer was always chasing headlines. Mailer took the phrase “Advertisements for Myself” (one of his book titles) literally. The Harvard grad’s main problem was he didn’t have a lot of charisma. Articulate? Yes. Verbose? Very much. Norman Mailer could talk all day. But his writing and persona lacked the certain “Oomph!” which goes along with being a true celebrity.

Still, we give him an “A” for trying, and place him at Number Fifteen of America’s Most Charismatic All-Time Writers.

NEXT: Who is #14?
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